


It Must Have Been The Wind

by TheyNamedHerMatilda



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Bruises, Citadel of Ricks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Smut, Protective Rick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29878401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheyNamedHerMatilda/pseuds/TheyNamedHerMatilda
Summary: Rick Sanchez from Earth dimension M-171 moved to Citadel couple months ago with his Morty. Compared to other Ricks, he's lightly more empathic, and it has always caused him trouble. One day he hears noises coming from upstairs neighbours and realises he's possibly witnessing domestic abuse. He wants to ignore it, but because of his empathic nature he can't just leave it be. However, being the smartest man in the universe and having some life experience himself, he knows helping a Morty in a situation like this isn't easy.
Kudos: 4





	It Must Have Been The Wind

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fanfiction here, and also my very first writing in english... As you can guess, english is not my first language, so please forgive me for typos and grammar mistakes... 
> 
> Title and inspiration for this fic comes from a song "Must have been the wind" by Alec Benjamin. My other inspirational song is "Luka" by Suzanne Vega :) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Rick Sanchez from Earth dimension M-171 was almost like any other Rick: cynical, miserable, depressed, alcoholic bastard who dragged his grandson on adventures and made his own inventions when he felt like it. He was the smartest man in the universe. He had moved to Citadel couple months ago with his grandson and just like any other Rick, he didn’t like it. It was just something he had to do. But there was one thing that made him different: compared to other Ricks, he was a little more empathic. It was not like he wanted to help every single soul he saw or cried every time he saw a lonely kitten on the street, but he did feel the urge to help if he saw danger or trouble. And that was one of the reasons they moved to Citadel. Rick neither fucked up in his own dimension, nor was he in immediate danger. It was because Morty was more safe in Citadel than at home with his family. Rick hated living in Citadel, but he did it for Morty. And that also made him different from other Ricks.

They lived on a second floor on a four storey apartment building. The house was not on best condition but at least they could afford it and they even had their own bedrooms. Before they moved Rick made sure he already had a job waiting for him. He was working in company that fixed broken industry machines. It was not his dream job but at least he didn’t have to settle being a factory worker making Simple Rick’s cookies. Morty had just recently managed to get a job at a convenience store nearby and even though it didn’t pay that much and it also happened to be shift work, he enjoyed it. It was nice to have something concrete to do rather than just sitting at home doing nothing and being alone with bad memories.

Life was not perfect but they managed. After all, this was only temporary solution. Rick had made a promise that they wouldn’t stay there forever. Just until things at home would get better.

It was Rick’s first day off for a long time. He hadn’t made any specific plans for the day, other than sleeping little longer than usual. Morty knew this, so he kept extra quiet while doing his morning routines before leaving for work. Unfortunately Rick’s plans on sleeping longer didn’t come to fruition when he woke to a sound of a shattering glass. Still half a sleep Rick looked around him and wondered if he just had a dream or if Morty had broken something. Annoyed, he was just about to yell Morty to shut the fuck up when surprisingly he heard those exact words coming from upstairs apartment:  
  
” _SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!_ ”

Then he heard a loud bang, like something was thrown on the floor right above him. This whole situation reminded him of some of the alcoholic rages that Beth had when they were still living on Earth. Rick sat up and stared at the ceiling. If they still lived on Earth, he most likely wouldn’t care. But they were on Citadel, so he knew exactly who lived above them. This was not an arguing love couple - this was a Rick and a Morty. Sure, it was very typical for Ricks and Mortys to be fighting verbally with each other, but thrownig stuff around was little worrisome. Rick got up and put clothes on while carefully listening to the noices from above. After the banging noice it had gone quiet. Rick still hadn’t decided if it was a good or a bad thing, but at least there wasn’t anymore arguing and it was sort of a relief. Rick was just about to turn and walk out of his bedroom when suddenly he heard something again. A noise that was must softer, so silent it was almost impossible to hear. A cry. And the only reason Rick was able to hear it was because it was coming straight above him. He couldn’t be wrong: it was definitely a Morty.

Rick stood there for a while, trying to decide what to do. After a while he heard loud footsteps walking all around the apartment and loud muttering. He wasn’t able to hear what the other person was saying. Once again Rick was about to give up and start his morning by going to the bathroom when suddenly he heard yelling again. Just like the muttering before it, he didn’t understand a word this other Rick was saying. Or yelling. What stratled Rick was that the crying got worse and louder. More distressed than before. _That’s it_ , Rick thought. He walked to the hallway and grapped his keys from the tiny table beside the door. He opened the door, walked out and locked the door behind him. Then he proceed to walk the stairs one storey up. While climbing the stairs he tried to breathe deep and remind himself to calm down. He knew it would just cause more touble if he started to yell and complain at the residents.

Rick finally stopped in front of the door right above their apartment. He stared at the name tag at the wall right next to the door:

**14**

**J-56-ab**

**J-56-ab**

In Citadel all resident’s surname was either Sanchez or Smith, so it was more convenient to use dimension numbers instead of surnames. Rick sighed. At least he now knew one thing: this Rick was living with his original grandson.

Currently Rick didn’t hear any noises coming from the apartment but he also didn’t want so stay there waiting that something would happen. He exhaled and rang the doorbell. For a while, nothing. He didn’t hear whispers or footsteps. _Maybe the duo inside realized how noisy they were_ , Rick thought to himself. He considered going back to his apartment to continue enjoying his day off, but something inside him told him he shouldn’t walk away from this. Just when he was about to give a second ring, he heard someone clicking the lock inside the apartment. Slowly the door opened but only as far as a door chain inside gave in. Rick realised that it was very dark in the apartment which indicated that all the curtains were closed. He hardly even saw the small figure on the other side of the door chain.

”Y-y-yes…?” asked a shy, trembling voice. No doubt, definitely a Morty. A shy one.

”Umm yeah hi…” Rick started. Suddenly he realised he didn’t really know what he wanted to say. He had hoped that the other Rick would open the door. That way he could be a little more rude and tell him to shut the fuck up, but now that he was face-to-face with a trembling Morty he didn’t really want to say anything to upset the boy more. Rick coughed and tried to continue: ”I’m a… I’m a neighbour downstairs. From apartment 9.”

No answer from Morty. He didn’t even move an inch. As far as Rick could see anyway. It was so disturbing to him that he couldn’t see the person he was talking to.

”Just came up to see if everything was okay in here?” As soon as he said this, Rick noticed Morty peeking behind his shoulder very quickly, like he was panicking. Then he quickly turned back to the door and rushed to answer:

”Y-y-yes a-absolutely! E-everything is alright, s-sir!”

Rick furrowed one of his brows. This was the first time a Morty called him ”sir”. It was also pretty clear at this point that this Morty was stuttering much worse than an average. His own Morty hardly stuttered at all. Morty moved his hand and placed his small fingers at the door like he was trying to balance. Rick noticed one distinguishing feature: this Morty wore a yellow hoodie instead of the standard yellow t-shirt. He also saw bandage stinking out of Morty’s sleeve and a small splint on his pinky . Rick felt more awkward than ever, he didn’t really know what to say or how to react. He coughed again.

”O-okay… It’s just… It’s my day off you know and… It’s quite loud in here…”

As soon as he said that, Rick felt like he wanted to punch himself in the face. What the hell was that about!? That was probably the last thing he should be saying in this situation. He was just about to tell the kid that he didn’t mean it like that when all of a sudden they both heard a shout coming deeper from the apartment:

”Y-yeah M-Morty!! Sit yUURRPour…. your fucking ass down an-and shut-shut the fUURRPPck-fuck up!! The-the-the fuck-man over there at the… at the door… You are bUUURRPothering the neighbours!!”

Rick clenched his fists and bit his teeth. This Rick J-56-ab was drunk as hell. Most likely so wasted that he couldn’t stand on his own feet and that’s why decided to yell presumably from couch so he didn’t have to stagger to the door. Rick couldn’t really see, but he was sure Morty collapsed into himself embarrased and just wanted to dissappear from all the eyes in the world.

”I-I’m re-really so-sorry, sir…” he stuttered, sounding like he was about to cry. ”I’ll be… I’ll be… I pro-promise I’ll be more qu-quiet…”

Rick furrowed both of his brows this time.

”No, it’s okay… I mean… Well, actually, it wasn’t even about you kid.”

This time Rick did actually see Morty’s facial expression trough one of his brown eyes. Morty was hiding other half of his face behind the door. He looked terrified. Like he couldn’t believe what this Rick was saying while _his_ Rick was listening. Rick quickly realised he could potentionally make this situation worse for Morty if he wasn’t careful.

”I-I mean… It was more like a banging noise or something like that… Glass shattering maybe?”

Morty’s expression softened a bit but he still looked like he was walking on eggshells. His gaze went to the floor for a while and then it came back up to look at Rick.

”Oh re-really..? I’m sorry sir… I didn’t hear a-anything… Maybe it didn’t… didn’t come from here?”

Rick looked at Morty confused. The young boy looked like he was trying desperately to make up a white lie. And he did. He looked at Rick with a lucid fake smile and stated:

”Ma-maybe it was the wind? Ye-yes! It must have been the wind!”

_Wind? All the excuses in the world and you pick wind?_ Rick thought and stared at Morty. Before he could protest Morty’s explanation the young boy lowered his voice and said:

”It was ni-nice of you to care, sir, but everything is a-alright… Really… I’m sorry I… I-I really have to go back inside now… P-Please…”

Rick sighed. The situation was far from over and he didn’t feel any better than before leaving his apartment. On the contrary, he felt really uneasy now. He looked at the young boy again and could see how tired he looked. Like he was about to fall asleep just by standing at the door. Rick knew there was nothing much more he could do for the youngster at this moment, so he decided to give up for now. The other Rick did sound like he was about to pass out anyway, so maybe it was safe to leave Morty. So he nodded and tried to smile.

”Okay, kid. If you say so. If you need anything, I’ll be home all afternoon today.”

Rick felt stupid for saying that but the words just came out before he could stop himself. Morty nodded and also smiled, but Rick could tell it was a sad smile.

”Tha-Thank you…”

With that, Morty closed the door and locked it. For a while Rick couldn’t move. He just stood there and stared at the door in front of him. You didn’t have to be Rick Sanchez to realize what was going on behind those closed doors. Moments like these he hated the fact that he wasn’t like other Ricks. If he was, he had bursted inside the apartment and killed that clearly abusive motherfucker. But on the other hand… If he was like other Ricks, he wouldn’t give a shit about other Rick’s Morty.

Eventually Rick returned home and fell on to the couch. He stared at the ceiling above him and thought about the bruised young boy. Maybe he was exaggerating because he didn’t know the whole story. Maybe this had been the only time they fought? Maybe that Morty had hurt himself before, falling over or something? Mortys were pretty clumsy. This was the first time Rick had heard disturbance of this kind in here anyway. Of course he was usually at work during this hour, but his Morty would have been home after nightshift. Morty was a light sleeper. If those two were fighting while his Morty was sleeping, he would wake up.

Then Rick started to wonder: would Morty tell him if he heard something? Most likely yes, because after witnessing domestic abuse Morty would be too anxious to keep it to himself. Rick was all he had in Citadel, he would have to confide in him. On the other hand, Rick also knew that Morty didn’t want to make complaints about the place they lived. Rick had noticed that the first day they came here. The apartment had been very dirty and because of some mix-up with the landlord they didn’t have running water for the first week there. Morty kept telling Rick it was fine and it didn’t bother him, but Rick could tell it did. Maybe Morty thought that if he told Rick that their neighbours were fighting loudly, it would same as saying ”this place is horrible, I don’t want to be here”. Rick snarled and started to rub his temples. All this overthinking was giving him a headache and making him mad. He really wanted to pick his flask and drink, but after witnessing recent incident he was quite afraid to do that. So instead of that he stood up and walked to the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

Rest of the day Rick tried to listen to noises from upstairs. He should have been relieved that it was quiet now, but he couldn’t shake the fear that this was calm before the storm.

***

Later that evening Morty M-171 came home from work just when Rick was about to exit the kitchen. Seeing his grandson he stopped and leaned against the doorframe.

”Hi Morty. How was work?”

”Hi Rick!” Morty answered while taking his jacket of. ”Pretty usual day. I kept busy. How was your day off? Hope I didn’t wake you when I left?”

Rick stared at Morty for a moment. _I thought so at first_ , he wanted to say but he didn’t. Just like talking to the Morty upstairs, he didn’t know what to say now, actually.

”It was… fine, i guess.”

Morty nodded looking understandingly and walked past Rick to the kitchen.

”I get it Rick, you would rather be out there doing something than just sitting at home. But I thought you had some inventions to work with here?”

Rick shrugged.

”Didn’t really have a flow to it, i guess….”

Morty started to make himself something to eat and didn’t really comment on Rick’s unenthusiastic attitude. Rick just stood there for a moment until he finally turned around to face Morty properly.

”Listen Morty… I need to ask you something.”

”Yes? What is it Rick?” Morty asked and continued to make his sandwich.

”I know that you are working on different shifts and you are not always home at the same time, but when you are home… Have you heard any noises coming from upstairs neighbours?”

Morty stopped and looked at his grandpa confused. ”Umm… Well, I can hear neighbours from time to time, so I guess the soundproofing is not the best in here… I-I mean, the rent is not that high so that would tell something about the quality of the house… I’m not complaining though! I do like it h-here!” Morty hurried to say.

Rick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew very well that in a way Morty blamed himself for the fact that they had to move to Citadel and was therefore always trying to convince Rick that he _appreciated all they had and everything there was good enough._ ”No Morty, it’s not about the quality of the house. I mean… Have you ever heard anything worrisome? Like… Fighting?”

Morty’s face turned from confused to worried as he tried to study his grandpa’s face, but he couldn’t really read him. The young boy tried to remember for a moment, but finally shook his head.

”No… I don’t remember hearing fighting sounds. What do you actually mean by that, Rick? Are we in danger? Should we be worried about our safety?”

Before Morty could work himself into a panic for Rick being so mysterious, Rick decided to tell his grandson the whole story. He told him about he noises that had woken him up. He told him how he went upstairs to see if everything was alright. And finally he told about how the other Morty had looked when he answered the door. At the end of his story, his Morty looked horrified.

”Aww geez, Rick… Why didn’t you call police? If that other Morty is in danger, we should do something! We can’t just sit and watch… or… listen… when he’s getting hit!”

Rick sighed again and sat at the kitchen table. Of course anyone would say the same thing: call the cops. That’s how it would normally go. But Rick was the smartest man in universe. He knew better. He knew Ricks and he knew Mortys.

”Morty, remember the incident on Earth that led us to move here? When your mom got so drunk she started raging and eventually hit you?”

Morty turned his gaze away from Rick but his grandpa had already seen tears forming in his grandson’s eyes. It hurt him to see Morty like that. This was not something he really wanted to bring up, but to make Morty understand, he had to.

”What if I had called cops on your mom? Just imagine the moment the cops came to you and asked you: _Did your mom really hit you?_ What would you say?”

For a long time Morty was quiet, just staring at the floor. Rick answered the question for him: ”You would say that it wasn’t true. That you mother didn’t hit you. And you know why? Because she’s your mother and you love her. You want to protect her. Even though you are the one that should be protected from her.”

Morty lifted his head slowly to look at Rick. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, but Rick wasn’t finished.

”I know you blame yourself for that. And you don’t even have to tell me that, I already know it. And no matter how many times me or anyone else would say _it wasn’t you fault_ , you don’t believe. Am I right?”

Once again, Morty didn’t answer. He dragged himself to sit opposite Rick and wiped his eyes. His lower lip was trembling. For a while, they both just sat there without saying a word. Rick was wondering if he had said enough and should just leave it for now. But then again, they propably wouldn’t be talking about this anymore after this.

”It doesn’t matter if it’s your mom. Or your dad. Or me. If any of us hit you, you wouldn’t tell anyone. Because we are family. It’s all that sentimental bullshit: ” _unconditional love_ ”. And that’s retarded ”, Rick snorted and pointed his finger above himself. ”Same goes with that Morty up there. If there is some abuse going on, and I’m not saying that most definitely is because I don’t know for sure… But _if_ there is, he’s not going to admit that. Plus, at the end of the day, we are talking about a Rick here. Even if that boy wouldn’t give a shit about his grandpa, that bastard has most likely threaten him to keep quiet. As a victim, there’s always the fear that if you tell and nobody believes you, things get worse.”

Rick turned to look at Morty again. The boy seemed sad but he wasn’t crying anymore. He was lightly nodding. He understood. He lifted his face to meet Rick’s gaze. 

”Bu-but Rick… We have to do something. We can’t just continue our lives like nothing’s wrong.”

Rick sighed and stood up rubbing his neck. ”For now we’ll just have to see where things are going. We can’t make assumptions just because of this one insident. But if it makes you feel better, Morty, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open. I’m gonna take a shower now. Don’t forget your sandwich.”

As Rick started to walk out of kitchen, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at his grandson one last time. He sighed again.

”I just want you to know, if it had been Jerry or anyone else, I wouldn’t have had a second thought. I would have killed that sorry excuse for a living organism. But since Beth is my daughter…” He shrugged. ”I think we can all agree that this solution was best for all.”

With that, Rick walked out of the kitchen and Morty was left alone. He lifted his legs up on the chair and hugged his knees staring at the unfinished sandwich laying on top of the counter. Rick was right: Beth was her mother and he loved her. Unconditionally. Even after the depression as a result of divorcing Jerry. Even after drunken rages where she blamed Summer for ruining her life and Morty for ruining everything good that was left of her shitty life. Even after one night Beth just couldn’t control her rage and slapped Morty even though he didn’t say or do anything. Even after his mother told him she never loved him. Rick was right: he wouldn’t tell if someone asked. The only reason Rick knew was because he was standing behind Beth and saw everything when it happened.

Morty couldn’t stop wondering if all Mortys were equally vulnerable to abuse or if there were any exceptions. If there were, those stronger Mortys most likely were not at Citadel. They were traveling all around galaxy and fighting without fear, always winning their opponents. And the other Mortys, ones like him… They were left either on Earth or in Citadel being punching bags for their families or Ricks. Worst cases getting killed by the abuse and bleeding to death in the middle of a living room or a street. Morty stared at the kitchen counter where he had been in a middle of cutting a tomato when Rick started to tell him about the Morty upstairs. Juice from the tomato was dripping down on the counter, like a drop of blood. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling hungry anymore.


End file.
